


In your memory

by szczepter



Series: seirinweek [1]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Gen, SEIRIN GEN, for seirin week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-09 09:05:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4342454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/szczepter/pseuds/szczepter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kiyoshi remembers</p>
            </blockquote>





	In your memory

He remembers it all.

 

_Riko's crying face as the lifts her up in the air, wild screams of joy around him and laughter vibrating through his body. Kagami hooting in excitement, Kuroko crying tears of pure happiness._

 

_And he's so exhausted._

 

_Accomplished._

 

 

_Relieved_

 

_\---_

 

Hyuuga calls him often on Skype despite his busy schedule and time zones. He complains a lot. About school, about his family, about the team.

 

Kiyoshi smiles slightly. He knows that's how Hyuuga expresses fondness and nervousness as well as longing.

 

"What are you grinning about dumbass?"

 

Kiyoshi laughs.

 

"Nothing. I just miss you guys."

 

He has to lower the volume when Hyuuga screams all flustered and accuses him of being a giant gross sap.

 

\---

 

_Hyuuga gets in position to make the free throw and for a moment Kiyoshi is scared._

 

_Not because he thinks Hyuuga will make it by an accident._

 

_No._

 

_Not that. He trusts him to see it through._

 

_He's scared because it's almost feels like something more than just the Winter Cup is ending._

 

_He inhales when Hyuuga prepares to make the shot and exhales when he releases the ball closing his eyes for a split second just go snap them back open._

 

_The ball bounces of the hoop and he jumps ignoring the pain in his leg._

 

_\---_

 

His grandparents are too old to use the computer on their own and they don't have enough money to call him by phone.

 

Riko, ever the resourceful woman, organizes shifts for the team to check on his grandparents and to help them clean and cook and help communicate with him.

 

It's a huge help, seeing as Kiyoshi never expected to go further than the training camp for two weeks because he wanted to keep an eye on them (he chose Seirin for that purpose after all).

 

And here he is now on a different continent.

 

"Sorry. Thanks for doing this." He says and Izuki waves a hand at him.  

 

"It's nothing. I had nothing to do anyway."

 

Kiyoshi smiles a bit.

 

"Well thanks anyway."

 

Izuki opens his mouth to respond but in that moment Furihata, who is on the shift with him enters the room and kneels beside his teammate.

 

"They are in the garden talking to the neighbors." He says. "I left because they seemed to be doing alright. I also did the dishes."

 

"Thanks Furi."

 

The boy ducks his head and mumbles something, a dust of pink on his cheeks.

 

They talk for a bit longer until Kiyoshi starts yawning and then a nurse comes into his room and tells him to go to bed.

 

"I need to go. I'll talk to you later. Whose turn is it tomorrow?"

 

"Kuroko and Koganei – senpai’s." Kiyoshi nods and they bid him goodnight and wish for a fast recovery.

 

\---

 

_Coming back after spending so much tone in the hospital feels weird._

 

_He was prepared to feel out of place among the new faces of the newcomers even if he heard a lot about them from Riko and Hyuuga._

 

_But it's not only the first years that make him feel out of place; Kuroko with his eerie starring and peculiar abilities. Kagami with his abnormal jumping and short temper. Furihata, Fukuda and Kawahara whispering on the corner of the gym and sending him glance._

 

_All this was expected._

 

_But the strange atmosphere he felt around his old team mates?  That was not._

 

_It's not that they alienate him or something like that. Quite the contrary. They are almost over inclusive. Like he's a child. It annoys him but he doesn't say anything. No point in making them feel guilty._

 

_Even Hyuuga seems to treat him in a special way which is just plain awkward and painful to watch, as he walks on eggshells._

 

_It doesn't last long and soon there is camp and new semester and matches and practice and Kiyoshi had never been so grateful to feel the hard slap of Hyuuga’s hand on his back._

 

_He just laughs and reveals on how it stings while Riko calls him a masochist._

 

_\---_

 

Kiyoshi doesn’t like playing favorites and single out anyone, but he must admit shamefully that Kagami is probably his favorite when it comes to juniors.

 

Doesn’t mean his feelings of affection for the other four are lesser, but there is just something that makes Kagami simply endearing to people, even if he, himself would never thought about himself like that.

 

It’s his and Riko’s shift this time at his grandparents and he can see Kagami in the background helping his gran walk to the kitchen and back when she needs something and hear her amused laugh combined with Kagami’s indignant sputtering about something she said.

 

“Are you listening to me?” Riko repeats a little irritated.

 

“Hm? Oh yes, yes. No strain on the leg after the surgery. Gotcha.”

 

Riko sends him an unimpressed look which makes her look like a disapproving mother or a teacher.

 

“No dumbass. I said that you need to bring all the medical records so I know how to set up your menu.”

 

Kiyoshi blinks a little taken aback.

 

“You want me on the team.”

 

Riko pauses.

 

“What are you talking about dumbass? Of course? What, you thought I would ditch a perfectly good player?” Kiyoshi laughs.

 

“Well, I’m a little battered and not in such a good shape, but if you still want me.”

 

She rolls her eyes.

 

“Moron. We will always want you.”

 

"Even as a bench warmer?"

 

" _Especially_ as a bench warmer."

 

She teases and he laughs.

 

He has to admit. That's a nice reassurance.

 

\---

 

_Kuroko was by far the most peculiar player and person Kiyoshi had ever seen._

 

_It wasn't really surprising since he came from the same breed as the generation of miracles albeit different when compared to them._

_He returned when their phantom player was in a state of inner turmoil._

 

_Riko said he and Kagami had a fight after the Touou match and the loss hit them all hard but it was especially hard on Kuroko. He didn't really understand the whole situation with Aomine and Kuroko got all tense when the tanned player was mentioned._

 

_He did know one thing. Kuroko wanted to improve._

 

_It wasn't easy to give him advice though._

 

_Improve your dribbling, strengthen your upper body, work on coordination, improve your stamina etc. just simply didn't **work**. Well the last one might have been a good tip but still. _

 

_Kuroko was such a peculiar player he didn't know if he could help him in any conventional way._

 

_Kiyoshi understood that Kuroko was an empath but had trouble sorting out his own feelings. Or more like he tried to avoid them altogether._

 

_So how to help Kuroko._

 

_The first thing that needed to be done was to find the cause of the problem and it wasn't, as the popular belief suggested, Aomine and the lost match. Well it wasn't the **only** reason. _

 

_The main problem was Kagami and his seemingly lack of trust in Kuroko._

 

_Which was ridiculous because even Kiyoshi who was absent could see that Kagami trusted Kuroko more than anyone on the team._

 

_It was **himself** that he doubted. Kiyoshi wondered how someone as observant as Kuroko could not notice the hints especially if it was his closest, trusted partner. _

 

_It wasn't only for the sake of the team really when Kiyoshi approached Kagami and tried to talk to him. It was more for Kuroko's personal sake._

 

_\---_

 

He remembers it all.

 

He remembers their first match and the win that lit a fire in them.

 

He remembers asking Riko out for the first time and her accepting.

 

He remembers meeting Hyuuga and his ridiculous blond hair.  

 

He remembers his first Seirin uniform and the first time his knee started to throb after a game.

 

He remembers Riko kissing him on the cheek and apologizing softly that it wasn't working really, but she wanted to be friends.

 

He remembers the hospital bed and the smell of linen filling his nostrils for the first week.

 

He remembers the first time he accidentally drank Hyuuga bitter coffee and made a face apparently so ridiculous even Hyuuga had to laugh instead of screaming that he was a weirdo.

 

He remembers screaming from the roof how and his and Hyuuga’s first fist bumps.

 

First years taping his knee (very poorly) Kuroko catching him mid fall and passing to Kagami in the last minutes of the Rakuzan match.

 

He remembers all this and much, much more.

 

And he will remember. Thinking of his beloved team was a better sedative than anything they could ever give him at the hospital.

 

Which was a good thing that he had plenty of memories because the rehabilitation was long and hard.

 

And he had to go back to make new ones.


End file.
